My salutations to Pujya Sri Ammula Sambasiva Raoji, the author of the Life History of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba in Telugu.

Strange are the ways of Sai Baba in dragging his devotees not only to him but also to his trusted messengers who have dedicated themselves to the spread of Sai Tatwa or Sai Philosophy all over the length and breadth of our sacred motherland.

I have been a devotee of Sai Baba of Shirdi for three decades . While the late Sri B.V. Narasimha Swamiji of Madras was responsible for the spread of Sai philosophy in the South, through his great writings about Sai Baba and establishing All India Sai Samaj, I find Poojya Sri Ammula Sambasiva Raoji doing pioonering work for the spread of Sai Philosophy and Sai awakening in the people of Andhra Pradesh, mainly I say ‘mainly’ beacause of late, his activities are spreading not only to the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, but also to distant places like Jaipur in Rajasthan, New Delhi and Kharagpur. Before proceeding to give an account of his activities connected with the propogation of Sai philosophy, I would like to tell the readers, briefly about my acquaintance with this great person, who is now ‘Guruji’ to thousands and thousands of Sai devotees.

After my retirement from Government service in the year 1991, I longed to do service to Sai Baba by associating myself with a person doing selfless service in spreading Sai’s message. At that time Pujya Sri Ammula Sambasiva Raoji was working as an Officer in the State Bank of India, Secunderabad. Knowing my desire, a friend of mine, Sri G Manohar Babu who was also working in the same bank, introduced me to Sri Sambasiva Raoji.

We were attracted to each other from the very moment of my introductions to him. I used to attend the noon Arathis to Sai Baba in the makeshift Sai Baba Mandir set up by Sri Sambasiva Raoji inside the bank premises. I thanked Baba for having sent me to this great and simple person. I used to accompany Sri Sambasiva Raoji (hereinafter referred to as Guruji) for the conduct of Sai Pujas and Sai vratams (observance of fast) in the houses of Sai devotees in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and sometimes in nearby districts, during holidays and sometimes after office hours. All the services rendered were absolutely free of cost. Till to this day, Guruji had performed more than one thousand Sai vratams .

Guruji had also undertaken the performance of a unique yagna called "Sri Sai Koti Nama Likitha Maha Yagna" in Sai Baba temple at several places in Andhra Pradesh and also at Shirdi, Jaipur (Rajasthan) and New Delhi. In each yagna two crores of "Sree Sai" names written by the Sai devotees in the books supplied to them free of cost, are being put in specially constructed stupas in the Sai temples. Till date, 35 such yagnas were conducted and the details are furnished elsewhere in this book. His speeches about Sai Baba and the way he expounds Baba’s philosophy in the Satsang in simple words is a rare experience for the listeners.

Guruji has since resigned his job as an officer in the State Bank of India, so that he can be in the service of Sai Baba all the twenty-four hours and work for the establishment of ‘Sai Yuga’ . No sacrifice is too great in the service of Sai Baba.

Guruji has established "Shree Shirdi Sai Baba Seva Ashram" which is a registered body. He is the Founder - President with headquarters at Hyderabad. Units of this parent body have been constituted at six different places in Andhra Pradesh till now. The important aims of these units are to spread the message of Shirdi Sai Baba among the general public in order to secure peace and harmony to mankind and to establish ashrams at different centres to facilitate Aadhyatmic Training Classes for different age groups.

Besides the above mentioned activities, Guruji has written several books in Telugu and Sai philosophy and the Life History of Shirdi Sai Baba. The circumstances under which this book was written and published were given in Guruji’s ( author’s) foreword. This Life History contains certain details which cannot be found in other similar publications.

The need to translate this Life History of Shirdi Sai Baba into other Indian languages was felt with the spread of Guruji’s activities to other States of India. Hence, he has taken a decision to have the English and Hindi translations of the Life History, to start with.

Guruji had been asking me to take up the translation into English since sometime, but I was hesitating and postponing as I doubted my capacity to undertake such a work, that too connected with Sai Baba, But, he finally told me in the last week of December, 1995, that I should commence the work from 1 January 1996, under any circumstances, and Sai Baba is there to give me necessary guidance.

Therefore with the blessings of Guruji and reposing full confidence in Sai Baba, I commenced the translation on 1 January 1996 as per the directions of Guruji and completed the work on 14 February 1996, the day on which Guruji left for Kharagpur.

While I was writing the English translation of Life History, Sai Baba showed his leela as follows. The manuscript of the work came to nearly 500 pages in long hand and I was searching for a person who could type the matter correctly. I contacted several typewriting coaching institutes,where such work was done. But they were not prepared to undertake this work and those who were prepared, demanded huge sums. Samardha Sadguru Sai Baba, came to my rescue in the form of Jagannadha Rao, a typist by profession, a Sai devotee, and a complete stranger to me, who volunteered to do the typing , after knowing that the original work in Telugu was writtten by Pujya Sri Ammula Sambasiva Rao. He told me that he had heard the name and activities of Guruji and expressed his gratefulness for being of some service to him. He did the typing work with great devotion and promptness.

I pray to Sai Baba to shower his blessings on Sri Jagannadha Rao. If the above incident is not Sai Leela, what else it is?

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Sai Maharaj and also to Guruji for having given me the opportunity to be of real service to them and also for getting myself enlightened about ‘Sai Avatar’ .

This deals with God's physical forms, and His Avatars (Incarnations.) An Incarnation, a learned Saint, a person who knows Brahmam are all considered to be Gods in our presence by virtue of their powers of attaining Godliness. There is no discrimination between them in their State, Stature or Status. Whoever possesses such extraordinary qualities and powers as witnessed in the Almighty, will be God. God who is Nirakara becomes Sahara in order to quench the thirst of love of His devotees. The Sahara form of God is not confined to a particular country or time. It appears at all times as and when the need arises and protects His children.

The chapter thus underlines the need of God's Incarnation assuming the form of Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi.

The ten incarnations of God such as Matsya (fish form), Kurma (form of tortoise), Narasimha (form of man and lion) etc., Kapila, Dattatreya, Gautam Buddha, and Sri Rama Krishna Parama Hamsa are no way different from the incarnation of Sri Sai Baba. Let my fellow devotees not be under illusion that there were several Gods and Sri Sai Baba has been the added to the list. It is always good for them to believe that God, the Supreme Power had assumed different forms and shall assume any form with His unlimited, myriad and miraculous powers at any time, as and when the occasion arises.

It is all God's will and play to create the universe, sustain it and annihilate it. He is incomprehensible. The Paramatma, the Creator dwells in all the living beings and enchants them with His divine spell of magic. The main objective and goal of all living beings is to know the Eternal Truth hidden in them. Man is luckier an other living beings in this regard. He is endowed with should utilise our faculties to know the all pervasive nature of God and make efforts to realize Him and this should be our life's mission. But we continue to pursue an untruthful path and indulge in ephemeral physical pleasures, under the magic spell of Maya (an illusion) and keep ourselves aloof to the Ultimate Reality and the Truth (Realisation of God). The kind hearted Lord, in the incarnation as Sri Krishna, taught us the path of reaching Him (God) in Bhagavadgita thus:

"You are given to the transitory and unreal pleasures in this world. Pray to Me for an everlasting bliss" (Gita 9-33)"Who ever turns to Me and surrenders shall be free from Maya!" (Gita 7-14)

"You will realize Me only when you keep Me in your mind, pray to Me with devotion, think of Me, salute Me, concentrate and meditate upon Me in full faith." (Gita 9-34)

"If You surrender to Me leaving everything, I shall give you relief from all your sinful actions: this is the truth",(Gita 18-66)

Adi Sankara says:

"Of all living beings, man's life is an unique and arduous one. It is difficult to be free from the cycle of births and deaths and attain salvation. It is also very difficult to seek great seers and obtain their grace and guidance. Only our good deeds in the previous lives will lead us to have association with holy saints and noble people. Once this is achieved, man's attention is diverted and he is led into the rightful path. Mukti (Salvation) is not possible in one life but can only be attained by the accumulation of several good and noble deeds in many previous lives."It is said in the Bhagavadgita:

"Man becomes wise after taking several births and he realizes that God is only one and such a person knows Me totally".(Gita 7-19)

Single-minded devotion is not possible in one life even if we seek refuse under a great Sadguru (God's incarnation) in view of the sins committed by us in our many past lives. But, a great Guru will never leave us in the lurch and will be with us always, protecting us at every moment and showing us the right path.

• Sai Baba summoned Nana Saheb Chandorkar to His presence and when Nana inquired about the reason; Baba replied; "Nana! Do I call every one? I have had associations with you for the past four lives"

• Justice M.B. Rege surrendered to Sri Sai Baba as His child. While conversing with him one day, Baba said, "My child, I shall grant whatever you desire. You may ask me your wish". Rege refused to seek any favour. But when Baba persisted Rege finally expressed his wish as follows: "Baba! Grant me the boon to live with you in all my future lives and further you will not leave me even for a moment." Sainath then replied; " My child! I never left you for the past ten thousand years. How can I leave you here after?"

• Once Shyama (Madhava Rao Deshpande) seemed to be angry with Baba when the latter twisted his cheek. Baba then jokularly said, "I didn't touch you for the past seventy two lives of yours. Why are you so angry now if I just twist your cheek once?".

• When Shyama introduced prof. G.G. Narke to Baba, He promptly said: "What! Why do you introduce him to me? I know him for the past thirty two lives."

We come across several such anecdotes and incidents in the life history of Sri Sai Baba. Many may have doubts about rebirths. Some do not believe in rebirth after leaving the mortal body. If one does not have faith and respect for the age-old scriptures, it is of no use explaining to them.

Let us recapitulate an interesting dialogue between Lord Sri Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield while preaching Bhagavadgita.

Krishna says: " I taught this yoga to Surya (Sun God) in the beginning who in turn taught to his son Vaivaswata Manuvu, and that Manuvu taught it to Ikshwaku".

Then Arjuna inquired: "You are born now; how can I believe your statement that you taught this Yoga to Sun God, who was born earlier to you".

Then Sri Krishna replied:

"You and I were together in many lives but you are not aware of them but I know every thing". (Gita 4-5)From this one can understand that Barman, the Divine is not limited to a particular time, place or country. Sai, who is Omniscient and Omnipresent, knows the past, the present and future. It is for this reason that all those who had close association with Baba in their past lives, came closer to him. Baba granted them all their desires. He corrected them, moulded them, and elevated them spiritually.

Baba provides opportunities to the children who are devoted to Him to remember Him, keep Him in their minds, meditate upon Him and serve Him. He will never leave them for a moment. He assumes responsibility to guide them at all times. Let all the devotees remember this. Baba is the Antaryami of all living beings. A devotee should meditate upon Him like that. Then he himself will become the inner Self of living beings. This basic principle as explained in Bhagavatam is often repeated by Sri Sainath. -"If you keep others at a far off distance you experience evil thoughts and obstacles; but if you invite every one into the domain of love, you enjoy peace of mind and ever lasting bliss. There will be no limit to the boundaries of love in your soul when it is extended to all other living beings, for, love conquers all and achieves everything". We cannot afford to ignore this truth and inner secret.

There was a village named Jambavavi, now in the State of Maharashtra, under the rule of a Nizam in those days. In this village, there was a pious Brahmin named Keshava Rao and his wife. Both were devotees of Venkateswara Lord at Tirupathi. As they had no children, they always used to pray to the Lord to bless them with a child. One night, the Lord appeared to Keshava Rao in a dream and told him that one Ramanand Yogi of Kashi would be born as their son shortly. After this Keshava Rao’s wife became pregnant. He used to read the holy scriptures to his wife and explain them in detail. This was an exercise undertaken by him to impart jnana to the child who was in the womb of his wife. His wife gave birth to a male child on an auspicious day. The parents named him Gopal Rao, and imparted several types of education. When the boy reached marriageable age, they performed his marriage with a suitable girl.

Gopal Rao was a person of tact, strength, patience and knowledge. Above all this, he was a person with a helping nature and service. Pleased with his strength and courage, the Peshwas gave a paragana named Jintur as jagir to Gopal Rao to rule over this place. Gopal Rao loved the inhabitants of this place as his own children and ruled over them. He shifted his place of residence to the centrally located village Selu and developed it a lot. He inherited from his father, abundant devotion to Lord Venkateswara. Now and then, the Lord would appear in his dreams. He established an ashram in his fort and gave opportunity to several people to lead saintly lives.

One Evening, when he was taking a stroll in the fort, he found a young lady undressing for taking bath and Gopal Rao’s mind had evil thoughts for a moment on seeing her naked form.Immediately regretting his perverted thoughts, he pierced both his eyes with a needle and lost his sight. Because of this, he could not discharge his duties as jagirdar properly. On the advise of his friends, he performed special puja to Lord Venkateswara and regained his lost eyesight with the blessings of the Lord. From that day, he came to be known as Venkudas ( Lord Venkateswara’s Slave).

Roshan Sha’s wife wanted to hand over the four-year-old boy to the care of Venkusa. But Venkusa was on a pilgrimage. He did not practise discrimination on account of religion, caste or creed. All were equal to him. He used to visit not only temples but also the dargahs and gurudwaras while on pilgrimage.

Once, when he visited the Sawaghahi Dargah in Ahmedabad, he heard the following words coming from there : "Salaam alekum Maharaj! You are born with a purpose. A hundred miles from Selu Village, there is a another village by name Manwat. There Allah, who is born for setting this world right, is being brought up in a fakir’s house. After you go back to Selu from your pilgrimage, the boy will be brought to you. You must accept this boy as your pupil and teach him . This is God’s work . The boy will grown up in your care and will become ‘Guru’ for the entire world."

Venkusa returned to Selu after the pilgrimage . Roshan Sha’s wife brought the boy and handed him over to Venkusa. Thus the boy ( Baba ) came under the care of Venkusa in his fifth year. Roshan Sha named the boy Majida and there are proofs that the boy grew under Venkusa with the name Majida.

Venkusa taught the boy all kinds of shastras. The boy who was born with natural Godliness learnt all of them in his early age. Venkusa took the boy along with him to other villages. In the year 1842, during summer, they both came to Shirdi village and they stayed there for 7 days. They took their food in the house of Bayija Bai and slept in the small temples of the village. This means Baba came to Shirdi first in the year 1842. Perhaps because of the food provided to him by Baija Bai, Baba used to call her Sister. Similarly, Baba in his young age came into contact with Nanavali.

Nanavali was younger than Baba. He used to do service at the Samadhi of a great person by name Nanavali, near Aurangabad. Hence, he got the name of Nanavali and was known only by this name. During the tours of Venkusa along with Baba, they met Nanavali for the first time in 1849. Nanavali used to address Baba as Uncle. Having been brought up by Roshan Sha who was a Sufi saint, and later by Venkusa who was a devotee of Lord Venkateswara, Baba understood the important aspects of Islam and Hinduism and also the blind customs in both. Though Venkusa was a Hindu, he used to take Baba to the Samadhis of great persons of both the religions and explain their teachings and theories in detail.

Years rolled by. The boy who was born with a purpose, the incarnation of Lord Shiva, learnt everything related with physical, philosophical and other fields. He also learnt about "Pancha Bhutas" and the importance of the eight directions. He was able to feel the divine power which created this universe, and notice the unstable condition of life, soul, mind and arrogance. He also learnt the connection between these and the sensory organs and how to control desires and command the divine power in the body. A divine light in his eyes, sensibility in talk, calmness in his actions and mature thinking were found in him.

For Venkusa, his joy knew no bounds, for the boy whom he brought up acquired so many divine powers. He used to stare at the boy motionless, and tears would roll down from his eyes. Night and day he would keep the boy with him. He used to bathe him, dress him, feed him and put him to sleep. If sometimes he could not attend on the boy personally, he would suffer mentally. Whether it was natural love for the boy or whether it was the effect of the incarnation of Lord Shiva in the form of this boy, we do not know. Whatever it was, Venkusa’s life was blessed he acted as Baba’s guru , protector, friend, mother and father. Though we do not know what Venkusa looked like, let us imagine and prostrate at his feet for having brought up our Sai, for having moulded him and presented him to crores of devotees throughout the world, let us prostrate at his feet for the second time. Sai is not merely a Guru. He is Samardha Sadguru. For having acted as Guru for such a Samardha Sadguru, let us prostrate at the feet of Venkusa for the third time.

Since Venkusa was teaching the boy the secrets in shastras, the other ashramites posed unnecessary and irrelevant questions which diverted the attention of Guru Venkusa. As he was not able to pay proper attention under such disturbed conditions, he took the boy into the forest and taught him in the different fields of education. The ashramites discovered the place where Venkusa was and sent a few disciples to bring him back to Selu. Suspecting that they were jealous of the boy and hated him, probably might harm him, without loss of time he inducted into the boy some of his powers on Suddha Dashami Day of the month of Asweeyuja. The boy who was just completing 16 years of age appeared fully mature, with divine powers.

Venkusa told the boy that he had done his duty as per God’s decision and the day was not far off when they would be separated. He also told him that having achieved his goal, he would go into Samadhi. As per the Shastras, a disciple should not witness his guru attaining Samadhi, but if he went back to Selu or the neighbouring villages, the people there might harm him. If they continued to be together then also the people who were jealous of them would be haunting them. Therefore, it was necessary that they be separated . On a full-moon day, Venkusa inducted into the boy all his remaining powers. It was decided that Venkusa would return to Selu and the boy would proceed along the shores of Godavari river. The plan was found out by some spies from Selu and the news was carried over to Selu. From Selu, Venkusa’s successors secretly came to the forest and watched their movements.

The people of Selu, thinking that Venkusa had left his family, ashram and properties for the sake of this boy, planned to kidnap the boy so that Venkusa would return to Selu. Sensing such a move, Venkusa protected the boy by staying with him every moment. Since the village people found that it was very difficult to kidnap the boy, they decided to kill him. That night was Chaturdasi, a day prior to full moon. The conspirators were discussing the methods of killing the boy. They had not brought knives or sticks with them. There were no big stones nearby . While this was the situation, Venkusa and the boy prepared to go to sleep.

The boy had peaceful sleep, whereas Venkusa could not sleep as he was preoccupied with thoughts of the boy. One of the conspirators, with a view not to delay their plan further, took a brick which was lying nearby and wanting to kill the boy at one stroke, proceeded towards him. Venkusa who was half asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and found the brick coming towards the boy’s head. He at once put his own head in the path of the brick which hit his forehead and caused bleeding. With blazing eyes, Venkusa cursed him, who fell dead the next moment. Hearing the commotion the boy woke up from his sleep and observed everything. The other two conspirators who were at a distance ran away, lest they also die by the curse of Venkusa.

The boy tore off a piece of cloth from his dress and cleaned the injury suffered by Venkusa. They were staring at each other with different thoughts in their minds. While Venkusa was thinking that even at the risk of losing his life, he would hand over the boy as Guru to posterity, the boy was thinking how to repay the debt to his Guru for having protected him. Thus the hearts of Guru and disciple became one, ideas became one, with love and affection in harmony. Such should be the binding force between Guru and disciple.

The sun began to rise in the east with the red rays spreading over the sky. Venkusa and the boy both took their bath in the river. Venkusa milked a nearby cow and puring the milk into the hands of the boy, imparted all the remaining powers he had and commanded the boy to bring to life one of the conspirators who lay dead due to the curse given by Venkusa. The boy washed the toe of the right foot of the Guru and sprinkled this water on the dead person who came alive, saying he regreted his attempt to kill the boy and sought his pardon.

Venkusa wanted to give the boy all the valuable ornaments he was wearing but the boy declined to have them. Instead he requested Venkusa to give him the brick which had hit him on his forehead while saving him (boy) from the murderous attack. Overwhelmed by his request and with tears rolling down from his eyes, Venkusa gave him the brick with his blessings. He wished that the brick alway’s be the boy’s companion and life partner. The boy also requested Guru Venkusa to give him the piece of cloth drenched with blood while cleaning his injury. Moved emotionally by such a request Venkusa tied the cloth piece around the forehead of the boy and declared that it would protect the boy at all times. He told him to proceed along the banks of river Godavari and the place where he found complete peace would be abode. He also advised him to keep away from women and wealth . Afterwards Venkusa proceeded to Selu along with the revived person.

After walking for three days along the banks of River Godavari, the boy reached a place called Kopargaon in the year 1854, Margashira month on the third day after full moon. After taking rest for a day, he again proceeded and reached the village of Shirdi by evening. Not willing to approach anyone for shelter, he began to live under the shade of a big neem tree.

After giving birth to the child Avatar on 28 September, 1835, Devagiri Amma and Ganga Bhavajya continued their journey aimlessly in the forests. Though he went with detachment, he observed the physical weakness and helplessness in his wife Devagiri Amma. Sympathy evoked in him, but he thought that he should not succumb to such weakness, and so started proceeding further. But Devagiri Amma was too weak to walk straight and her sight was getting blurred, her tongue drying up with thirst. She had no physical strength at all. But as a devout woman, she followed her husband slowly. With great difficulty, they moved ahead. Ganga Bhavajya stopped near a freshwater tank. He could not proceed further after seeing the condition of his wife. He tried to suppress his feelings unsuccessfully. All his feelings and sympathies for his wife gushed out and he thought Lord Shiva would not give him Darshan if he left his wife alone and proceeded. He went to her and started attending on her. After quenching her thirst, she went into deep sleep, fully exhausted. In the meantime, a banjara (a nomad) who was passing by saw them and told them that if they did not leave that place before dusk, there was danger from wild animals. So saying, he took them along with him for some distance and showed them a hut. He told them that this hut belonged to him and they could rest in it. After sometime, the banjara’s wife brought food for them and after serving them they all sat together.The banjara couple heard the story of their guests attentively. Then they addressed the guests.

"The norms for leading an ordinary type of life are prescribed in the Vedas. They are of four kinds, viz. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Every man should follow these four during his lifetime. The woman, while being the life companion, should assist the man in attaining them. This is the speciality in Hindu culture. But having brought forth three children, you left them mercilessly and took to the forests. Your action goes against the dharma. It is good to desire a vision of Lord Shiva. If that is life’s aim, one should be a sanyasi and not grihastha (family man). But being grihastha, forgetting one’s duties towards family, one should not seek God, for this is not correct.

After performing all your duties only you should take to vanaprastha (retiring to the forests) and then seek God. This is Dharma Marga. As you have already abandoned your three children you should now proceed. Though you are wife and husband, in future you should not have any bodily attachments, but concentrate on doing penance for Atma Sakshatkara and then for the Sakshatkara of Lord Shiva. There is a village named Nivasa about 150 miles from here and from there you proceed another 20 miles and do your penance."

The words of the banjara was like the chanting of the Vedas and Bhavajya decided to do penance with his wife for the Sakshatkara of Lord Shiva. In the meantime, the banjara gave them two wild fruits from the forest and made them eat, by which they got rid of all bodily ailments, attaining divine powers necessary for doing penance. Late in the night they slept. When Ganga Bhavajya woke up in the morning, he found neither the banjara couple nor the hut. All that had taken place the previous night appeared to them as a dream.

Devagiri Amma regained her physical health and was happy. After travelling for eleven days, they reached the place on the banks of Godavari river, as indicated by the banjara and started their penance for years. Many used to visit them and learn spiritual matters from them. The devotees named Devagiri Amma as Dwarakamai . Devagiri means Govardhanagiri, the mountain lifted by Lord Krishna and the place surrounding it is Dwaraka , and Aai means mother. Similarly, Ganga Bhavajya was named Gurudhan because he was imparting jnana to the seekers. So, the names acquired by the parents of Baba, in the Jnana Marga , were Gurudhan and Dwarakamai. As many people started visiting them, it caused disturbance for their penance, and so they shifted into the interior forest. Both used to be in a state of Samadhi for days together.

After reaching Shirdi, Baba lived for sometime under a neem tree on the outskirts of the village. Some villagers with their unnecessary talk, were disturbing Baba’s meditation. For a long time, he used to go into the nearby forest and remain there all the day, eating fruits and other things available in the forest. After a certain period, some of the villagers noticed this boy who used to sit under the neem tree under all extreme climatic conditions, and always meditating. Some of them asked the same question direct to the boy, thereby disturbing his meditation. While this was so, some people who were carefully observing him recognised him as a boy with unusual divine powers . But many used to talk about him critically and used to poke fun at him.

One day a blind person came and sat in the shade of the neem tree. Some rowdies abused him and threw him aside and went away. This commotion disturbed the meditation of the boy. He found out the reason for the commotion. Feeling pity for the blind person, the boy with his divine hands, cleaned both the eyes and catching the eyelids firmly with his hands passed his divine rays from his eyes into those of the blind man. Unable to bear the agony of burning eyes,the blind man cried aloud and fainted. The rowdies who had ill-treated the blind man earlier assembled there with some others. After a short time, the blind man regained his consciousness and found that he was no longer blind. Seeing this, the people assembled there were wonderstruck. From then onwards not only the villagers of Shirdi but also those from neighbouring villagers started coming to the boy for getting their ailments cured. Thus, a year passed.

Sometimes, the boy used to take the juice of any leaf found nearby and gave it as medicine. Whatever seed he found he used to ask the patient to make a paste of it and use it as medicine. If he touched the ailing limb of the body, the ailment would disappear. Slowly, people recognised him as a great physician. The entire day time he used to treat the patients. In the nights some persons used to come and disturb him with unnecessary questions. As he was not able to meditate properly due to the conditions prevailing, one night he left Shirdi and proceeded eastwards along the bank of River Godavari. He reached Triambakeswar and finding the high mountains suitable for his meditation, he started doing penance.

The brick given to him by Guru Venkusa was his only companion , and the piece of cloth soaked with the blood of his Guru was his protector. He did penance for a year. Afterwards, he returned by the same route along the banks of River Godavari via Kopargaon and reached the place where he and his Guru Venkusa has parted on exactly on the same day of the same month. As two years had lapsed since then, he found that many trees had come up around the place like a thick forest. He found it difficult to exactly pinpoint the place. Then he took out the brick and tied it in the blood-soaked piece of cloth and prayed to his Guru. Immediately, the entire area became as it was two years back. Instantly, he recognised the spot where his Guru had saved him from an attack to kill him. He prayed : ‘Oh Guruji! You shed your blood to save me ! I want to have your Darshan. But my power will always be protecting you." Then the boy said, "I do not have parents, brothers and other relatives. You are the only person for me. I must have your darshan today as you have saved my life. Otherwise, I do not want to live further. I will take out my life by hitting myself with the same brick from which you saved me two years back." So saying he hit his forehead with the brick. Suddenly, the hand of his Guru Venkusa appeared in between the brick and his forehead. Venkusa stood next to him and blessed him. He told the boy : "Because of your faith and gratitude towards me I had to get up from my Samadhi and come to you. I appreciate your devotion for your Guru. You will become Guru for the entire world. Like me you will also bless your devotees from your Samadhi. I am giving this boon to you . You have descended from Lord Shiva . The boon I give you now is only symbolic. Even after you attain Samadhi you will be saving your devotees from the Maya of Kali. This is possible only for Lord Shiva who drank poison and kept it in his throat. As I have come out of Samadhi , I will be with you for two years in an invisible form. Continue your penance." So saying Guru Venkusa disappeared. The boy remained in the same place for two years doing penance. Whenever necessary, Guru Venkusa used to advise him in the invisible form. In the year 1858, again on a full-moon day in the month of Margashira, he gave him darshan and told him to go back to Shirdi. He further told him that he would also be there in the form of a jyoti (burning light) near the neem tree in an underground structure.

The penance undertaken by Gurudhan (Ganga Bhavajya) and Dwarakamai (Devagiri Amma) reached the climax stage. Pleased with their penance Shiva and Parvati appeared before them. Overjoyed at the Sakshatkar, they pleaded with Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati to give them moksha (salvation). Agreeing to this, Lord Shiva told them, "You will get moksha as desired by you. But you two, in the form of jyotis (burning lights) will remain permanently in the underground structure near the neem tree at Shirdi. Another Mahatma by name Venkusa will also be there with you as jyoti. Gurudhan will remain there permanently. In the coming days, I will keep Dwarakamai in a nearby place in the form of Dhuni. Similarly, I shall arrange a suitable place for Venkusa. After my present ‘Avatar’ comes to an end, I will get the physical remains of my body placed in between you two. In this way, Shirdi will be the abode of four divine powers, and for the coming 500 years it will grow day by day and will be Kailash for the devotees." So saying Lord Shiva put his hand (Abahaya Hastha) towards them. Immediately, two dazzling light rays emerged from the hand and entered the bodies of Gurudhan and Dwarakamai, bringing out their inner life (prana shakti) in the form of jyotis and coming out from their upper skull. In an invisible form these jyotis reached Shirdi village and under the neem tree in an underground structure remained there doing penance. Similarly Venkusa came out from his Samadhi at Selu and came to Shirdi in the form of jyoti and joined the other two in the underground structure near the neem tree.

There the boy ( Baba), after having darshan of Venkusa, proceeded till he reached a village called Dhoop near Aurangabad by sunset and took rest near a big boulder. At the same time, the Patel (munsif) of Dhoop village, Chand Bai, having lost his horse, started searching for it with the saddle on his shoulder. Having roamed for the horse, he became tired and wanted to relax and so came to the place where the boy (Baba) was taking rest.

Noticing Chand Bai, Baba questioned him, "What Chand Bhai! You seem to be tired after searching for your horse." Chand Bai was surprised at how this stranger knew his name and about the missing horse. The boy replied that he knew everything and there was nothing he did not know. Then Chand Bai asked the boy to tell him where to find his lost horse named Bijli. The boy asked Chand Bai to proceed on the right side for some distance and there would be a small pond where he could find his horse Bijli gazing. Chand Bhai said that he had come from that side and had not found his horse there and there was no use going there again. To this the boy replied that his words would not go in vain and one should have complete faith to have result. No one can get the result with a doubtful mind. He asked him to go and get the horse. But this appeared unbelievable truth for Chand Bai. While they were discussing thus, the boy took out a smoking pipe and tobacco from his bag. To use the pipe for smoking, water was required and to light the tobacco, fire was required. The boy, with his metal rod-like instrument (sataka) struck the ground before him. Immediately water came out in the form of a jet. After preparing the pipe by filling it with tobacco, he struck for the second time at the same place on the ground with his sataka and fire came out this time. The boy then lighted the tobacco with this fire. He smoked from the pipe and passed it to Chand Bai for smoking. Dumbstruck by these acts of the boy, Chand Bai wondered whether what he was seeing was real or only a dream. After realising that this was not a dream,Chand Bai ran towards the direction given by the boy earlier and found his horse ‘Bijli’ grazing near the pond. He came back with the horse and prostrated before the boy. He invited him to come along with him to his house. With great devotion he made the boy sit on the horse and he walked along beside the horse.

If the boy with such divine powers step into his house, all the evils haunting would go away and peace and happiness would come to the place. So thought Chand Bai. The boy remained as guest of Chand Bai for 35 days, blessing the people of Dhoop Village. Afterwards, on a request from Chand Bai, the boy accompanied the marriage party of Chand Bai’s brother-in-law and came in a bullock cart to Shirdi, which was the bride’s place. Chand Bai thought that if they took this boy with the divine powers along with them there would not be any obstacles and the marriage celebrations would go on peacefully.

The bullock carts of the marriage party were proceeding towards Shirdi. In the evening cool winds started blowing and the bells tied round the necks of the bullocks were giving rhythmic sounds mingled with the singing of the birds. At dusk, the red rays from the setting sun from the west began to fall on the white clouds in the east and the scene was pleasing to the eyes. As if welcoming the Mahatma ( Baba ) sitting in front in the bullock cart, the birds started chirping and flying before the cart. From a distance the koel (nightingale) was singing as if saying : "God is coming to Shirdi personally to settle down there. Do not think under the influence of Maya that he is only an ordinary person. So you all please recognise him as God." The moon appeared on the east as if to give light to the Mahatma. The entire marriage party was full of joy and enjoying peace every moment. Thus the marriage party proceeded towards Shirdi.

The entire nature was blooming to welcome this God incarnation from Kailash. Those of the marriage party who witnessed this were really lucky. Similarly, with a prayer that we should also get an opportunity to be with Baba at least for a few months either in this birth or in future births, we end this chapter.